The United States and seven other nations condemned the killing of a United Nations staff member who was forcibly detained last week in Western Bahr el Ghazal State, South Sudan.
The embassies of Canada, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States issued a joint statement Monday expressing their “deepest condolences” to the family of Bol Rhoch Mayol Kuot and his colleagues with the U.N. Mission in South Sudan, known as UNMISS.
Kuot was detained by security actors in Western Bahr el Ghazal State, the statement said. He was later killed.
The joint statement noted the transitional government’s pledge to hold those responsible to account and called on South Sudanese authorities to “fully follow through on this commitment so that those responsible for Mr. Bol’s death are brought to justice.”
Sources in Wau told Radio Tamazuj that Kuot, a South Sudanese national, was detained on December 15 by SSPDF soldiers during a UNMISS patrol in the Masna Talib area, south of Wau town, and was taken to a military base, where he later died.
Local reports said the army was conducting operations against opposition forces in the Maleng area at the time.
UNMISS, established in 2011, is mandated to protect civilians, monitor human rights, and support South Sudan’s political transition. Attacks on U.N. and humanitarian workers have been a recurring concern amid the country’s prolonged instability.